Glass Debris Research Articles

Hydrodynamic force on a hemispheroidal particle attached to a planar surface in linear shear flow

This paper presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of the hydrodynamic force exerted on a prolate hemispheroidal particle (as a model geometry for debris formed during glass cutting) attached to a planar solid surface under linear shear flow. The three-dimensional conservation equations for mass and momentum are solved using a finite-volume scheme on a polyhedral mesh to compute the steady flow field around the particle and determine the hydrodynamic force on the particle as a function of particle aspect ratio (ε), pitch angle (θp) with respect to the surface, and orientation angle (θf) with respect to the flow direction. The computational results are used to develop a correlation for the drag coefficient (CD) in terms of more general shape descriptors that can be used for particles of irregular shape (i.e., with no symmetry)– namely, lateral view factor (ψl), particle separation (ψs), and dimensionless hydraulic radius (ψh). Computations are also performed for several particles with irregular shapes (resembling glass debris) and the CFD results for drag coefficient are compared to predictions of the empirical correlation. The drag coefficient correlation resulting from this study will be useful for estimating the hydrodynamic drag force exerted by the flow of cleaning fluids on irregularly-shaped particles adhering to planar solid surfaces.

Developing capacity for post-typhoon disaster waste management in Lautoka, Fiji, and Makati, Philippines

In recent years, Asia and the Pacific have been ravaged by strong typhoons that caused widespread destruction. The powerful winds from these typhoons ripped off roofs, windows, doors and walls from houses, and destroyed trees and other vegetation, leaving a vast amount of wooden, metallic, plastic, and glass debris and waste scattered across a wide area. Proper management of disaster waste is a critical task during the initial phase of disaster recovery. It is essential for coastal cities that are frequently affected by typhoons to have adequate capacity for post-disaster waste management. This capacity development project aimed to contribute to this end by providing appropriate knowledge and training to government and non-government stakeholders. The project was implemented in Lautoka City, Fiji and Makati City, Philippines, with the support of four prominent universities. In total, six training sessions were conducted under the project. The primary outputs of this project are the disaster waste management contingency plans of the two participating cities. The project team disseminated information about the capacity development project through the project website and through presentations in academic conferences, webinars, workshops, training, non-academic conferences, and radio guest appearances.

Mapping groundwater resilience to climate change and human development in Asian cities

In recent years, Asia and the Pacific have been ravaged by strong typhoons that caused widespread destruction. The powerful winds from these typhoons ripped off roofs, windows, doors and walls from houses, and destroyed trees and other vegetation, leaving a vast amount of wooden, metallic, plastic, and glass debris and waste scattered across a wide area. Proper management of disaster waste is a critical task during the initial phase of disaster recovery. It is essential for coastal cities that are frequently affected by typhoons to have adequate capacity for post-disaster waste management. This capacity development project aimed to contribute to this end by providing appropriate knowledge and training to government and non-government stakeholders. The project was implemented in Lautoka City, Fiji and Makati City, Philippines, with the support of four prominent universities. In total, six training sessions were conducted under the project. The primary outputs of this project are the disaster waste management contingency plans of the two participating cities. The project team disseminated information about the capacity development project through the project website and through presentations in academic conferences, webinars, workshops, training, non-academic conferences, and radio guest appearances.

Glass from the Silk Roads. Insights into new finds from Uzbekistan

The paper provides insights into an assemblage of glass finds from the citadel of Kafir Kala and the site of Cholaktepa both in the proximity of Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Located along one of the major Eurasian branches of the Silk Roads, passing through Samarkand, Kafir Kala is among the most relevant centres to better understand the Islamization of the Middle Zeravshan Valley in the early 8th century. During the excavations, hundreds of fragments of ceramics, and a conspicuous amount of glass finds were recovered. Chrono-typological study allowed identifying objects for everyday use like bottles, cups with handles and bowls with re-folded rims; fragments of decorated bottoms with a honeycomb pattern, showing a distinctive rosette stamp, were also identified. Moreover, glass debris from Cholaktepa, 11 km west of nowadays Samarkand, provided evidence for the occurrence of glass working. Compositional analyses, by electron microprobe (EPMA) for major and minor elements and by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for trace elements, have been carried out on selected fragments, aimed at investigating the compositional features of finds and their raw materials, to establish comparisons with published assemblages pertinent to neighbouring geographical areas and comparable chronological spans. All the glass fragments are silica-soda-lime in composition, made by using plant ash as fluxing agent, except two samples made by using natron. Compositional data show a link to the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan, where a local glass manufacture has been identified.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE BY WASTE GLASS POWDER AS PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF CEMENT

The environmental problem posed by non-biodegradable waste, such as non-reusable glass bottles, is becoming a major concern in view of the huge quantities in landfills in underdeveloped countries. Prospecting the valorization of waste glass in rural constructions constitutes a potential to reduce the use of natural materials in concrete industry. In this paper, the issues of environmental and ecological construction materials are addressed by the use of waste glass powder (Ø≤80μm) as replacement of cement in concrete. The aims of this project work is to usewaste glass powder in range of 10wt% to 20wt% as replacement of cement into concrete and concrete cylinder tested for its density, workability and compressive strength up to 45 days of age compared to those of conventional concrete. The obtain results indicate that the workability is increasing, the density and the compressive strength are decreasing up to 20wt% replacement ratio. Moreover, the compressive strength of WGP based concrete is lower than that of conventional concrete up to 28 days of age and becomes superior from 45 days age. The best obtain average values of workability and compressive strength are respectively 7.2cmand 30.25MPa up to 28 days of age for the case of BPV20. Thus, for its good pozzolanic characteristics and the influence on the properties of concrete, the glass powder obtained by basic grinding non-reusable glass debris can be used in the formulation of ecological concrete for common civil engineering applications.

HOG-SVM Impurity Detection Method for Chinese Liquor (Baijiu) Based on Adaptive GMM Fusion Frame Difference.

Chinese liquor (Baijiu) is one of the four major distilled spirits in the world. At present, liquor products containing impurities still exist on the market, which not only damage corporate image but also endanger consumer health. Due to the production process and packaging technologies, impurities usually appear in products of Baijiu before entering the market, such as glass debris, mosquitoes, aluminium scraps, hair, and fibres. In this paper, a novel method for detecting impurities in bottled Baijiu is proposed. Firstly, the region of interest (ROI) is cropped by analysing the histogram projection of the original image to eliminate redundant information. Secondly, to adjust the number of distributions in the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) dynamically, multiple unmatched distributions are removed and distributions with similar means are merged in the process of modelling the GMM background. Then, to adaptively change the learning rates of the front and background pixels, the learning rate of the pixel model is created by combining the frame difference results of the sequence images. Finally, a histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) features of the moving targets is extracted, and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model is chosen to exclude bubble interference. The experimental results show that this impurity detection method for bottled Baijiu controls the missed rate by within 1% and the false detection rate by around 3% of impurities. Its speed is five times faster than manual inspection and its repeatability index is good, indicating that the overall performance of the proposed method is better than manual inspection with a lamp. This method is not only efficient and fast, but also provides practical, theoretical, and technical support for impurity detection of bottled Baijiu that has broad application prospects.

Effect on Compression Strength of Masonary Mortar by Replacing Fine Aggregates with Waste Glass

Abstract: Eco- friendly, low-carbon, and energy-intensive materials are required for a accountable approach to sustainable development. Glass debris can be used to substitute fine natural aggregate in a constructive way. The effects of adding glass cullet to the mechanical characteristics of mortar were investigated for this purpose. The glass aggregate was created from recycled post-consumer waste glass (mainly bottles) from the food, medical, and cosmetics industries. Four different contents of fine glass cullet were used in this experiment (5, 10, 15, and 20 wt. percent of fine aggregate). Compressive, flexural, and split tensile strengths were all assessed. The modulus of elasticity and the Poisson coefficient were also calculated. The inclusion of glass sand aggregate to mortar improves its mechanical qualities. The acquired improvement in split tensile strength was the least influenced when comparing the strengths. Rarely has the found effect for the increased examined attributes of the glass sandaggregate content been documented. Furthermore, it was discovered that increasing the recycled glass sand aggregate content in mortar reduced the density. The links between the properties of mortar containing glass sand aggregate were also investigated. Keywords: Portland Pozzolana Cement (ultra-Tech), Drinking Water, natural sand, and waste glass replacement were used in the current experiment.

The effects of compost bin design on design preference, waste collection performance, and waste segregation behaviors for public participation

Municipal solid waste (MSW) composting is one of the most effective strategies for MSW management but detrimental litter such as plastic and glass debris must be discarded elsewhere. Well-segregated wastes are necessary in this context. A compost bin is a waste collection tool for source separation. To date, the deployment of compost bins for source separation has received scant investigation. This study investigated the effects of compost bin design in terms of user design preferences, waste collection and sorting execution, and segregation behavior. The study comprised a survey and an on-site experiment. Design preferences of nine designed compost bins were evaluated by surveying 400 respondents using the pairwise comparison method. It was revealed that design preference was determined by bin shape and slot position. On-site experiments were conducted to establish collection rate, contamination rate, capture rate, and effective capture rate under different conditions. Under the experimental conditions, better segregation rates were observed in comparison with the control condition. The contamination rate was reduced by 55.9%. The capture rate and the effective capture rate were increased by 8.90%, and 53.4%, respectively. The significant effects of design preferences, physical designs, visual prompts, and past behavior were identified via statistical methods. Source-separated waste collection can be improved through preferred compost bin adoption, enhanced design, appropriate visual prompts, and experience in waste segregation. Therefore, the findings of this study will help to generate effective source-separated collection and allow compost bins to be placed in public areas for integrated and sustainable waste management.

Single Trip Deployment of Multistage Completion Liners Through the Use of Interventionless Flotation Collars

Summary In difficult wellbores, the traditional method for deploying liners was to run drillpipe. The case studies discussed in this paper detail an alternative method to deploy liners in a single trip on the tieback string so the operator can reduce the overall costs of deployment. Previously, this was not often practical because the tieback string weight could not overcome the wellbore friction in horizontal applications. In each case, a flotation collar is required to ensure there is enough hookload for the deployment of the liner system. The flotation collars used are an interventionless design using a tempered glass barrier that shatters at a predetermined applied pressure. The glass debris is between 5 and 10 mm in diameter and can be easily circulated through the well without damaging downhole components. This is done commonly on a cemented liner and cemented monobore installations, but more rarely with openhole multistage completions. The authors of this paper have overseen thousands of cemented applications of this technology in Western Canada, the US onshore, Latin America, and the Middle East. For openhole multistage completions, the initial installation typically requires a ball drop activation tool at the bottom of the well to set the hydraulically activated equipment above. The effects of circulating the glass debris through one specific style of activation tool were investigated. Activation tools typically have a limited flow area and could prematurely close if the glass debris accumulates. Premature closing of the tool would leave drilling fluids in contact with the reservoir, potentially harming production. The testing was successfully completed, and the activation tool showed no signs of loading. This resulted in a full-scale trial in the field, where a 52-stage, openhole multistage fracturing liner was deployed using this technology. Through close collaboration with the operator, an acceptable procedure was established to safely circulate the glass debris and further limit the risk of prematurely closing the activation tool. This paper discusses the openhole and cemented multistage fracturing completion deployment challenges, laboratory testing, and field qualification trials for the single trip deployed system. It also highlights operational procedures and best practices when deploying the system in this fashion.

Sliding wear behaviour of fibre-reinforced PTFE composites against coated and uncoated steel

The tribological response of PTFE-based composites for mechanical seals can be significantly affected by the nature of the counterface. In this work, glass fibre (GF) and carbon fibre (CF) reinforced PTFE-matrix composites were slid, in a pin-on-disc configuration, against AISI 304 stainless steel, either uncoated or coated with plasma sprayed Cr2O3.When mated with uncoated steel, GF-PTFE composites tended to wear down more, but also produced a thicker and more continuous tribofilm than did CF-PTFE ones. The pulverized glass debris adsorbed humidity and formed a cohesive “skeleton” to keep the PTFE debris in place, thus resulting in comparatively lower friction coefficients of ≈0.20–0.27.On the other hand, the polished Cr2O3 surface, with smooth plateaus and numerous valleys of various sizes, facilitated the retention of transfer material. Therefore, it produced less friction than uncoated steel, both against GF-PTFE and CF-PTFE, although the CF-PTFE pin showed a limited capacity to develop a tribofilm. CF-PTFE, however, suffered more severe wear than did GF-PTFE against Cr2O3, because the carbon fibres fractured more frequently.The bulk temperature of the composites never increased by more than 12 °C during the tests, and the rise in temperature depended more on the friction coefficient than on the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the mated surfaces.

FT-IR Study, Thermal Analysis, and Evaluation of the Antibacterial Activity of a MK-Geopolymer Mortar Using Glass Waste as Fine Aggregate.

Food containers made from glass are separately collected from urban solid waste at 76% in most parts of Europe. The cullet glass finds its way to re-melting, while the debris is often disposed of. With this contribution, we suggest an upcycling process where glass debris is simply ground without any washing operation and added to an alkali-activated paste. Metakaolin-based geopolymer mortar added with coarsely ground glass waste as fine aggregate has been prepared via alkali activation with NaOH and Na-silicate. After 7, 14 and 28 days of room temperature curing time, the 3D geopolymer network was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Vibrational spectra revealed the geopolymerization occurrences, results which have been supported by both FT-IR deconvoluted spectra and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Finally, the antibacterial properties were investigated against both gram-negative (E. coli) and gram-positive (E. faecalis) bacterial strains. The results suggest the ability of the 28 days cured geopolymers to inhibit the growth of the gram-negative bacterium assayed.

Long-Term Culture of Stem Cells on Phosphate-Based Glass Microspheres: Synergistic Role of Chemical Formulation and 3D Architecture.

Phosphate-based glasses (PBGs) are biomaterials that degrade under physiological conditions and can be modified to release various ions depending on end applications. This study utilized slow-degrading (P45:45P2O5-16CaO-24MgO-11Na2O-4Fe2O3, mol %) and comparatively faster degrading (P40:40P2O5-16CaO-24MgO-20Na2O, mol %) PBG microspheres with or without porosity, to evaluate the combined effect of chemical formulation and geometry on human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a clinically relevant cell source for orthopedic applications. Scanning electron microscopy showed 2, 46, and 29% of P45 bulk (P45-B), P40 bulk (P40-B), and P40 porous (P40-P) microspheres, respectively, that had cracks or peeling off surfaces after 42 days of incubation in culture medium. Cytotoxicity assessment showed that glass debris released into the culture medium may interact with cells and affect their survival. Direct-contact cell experiments up to 42 days showed that P45-B microspheres did not sustain viable long-term cell cultures and did not facilitate extracellular matrix formation. On the other hand, P40-B microspheres enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium deposition, and collagen and osteocalcin production in MSCs. Introduction of porosity in P40 glass further enhanced these parameters and proliferation at later time points. The small pore windows (<5 μm wide) and interconnection (<10 μm wide) may have allowed limited cell penetration into the porous structures. P40-B and P40-P have potential for bone repair and reinforcement therapy based on their chemical formulation and porous geometry.

Problems of Vehicle Identification by Tire Marks on the Soil

Scientific research is focused on the problems of vehicle identification by tire marks on the soil. It is argued that the car can either be a participant in a traffic accident or be used during theft of property or kidnapping.&#x0D; The constructional features of the wheels and tires of a car, which are important in the formation of tracks, are described. When the wheel comes into contact with the soil, the tread pattern is reflected.&#x0D; The features of the vehicle tire marks recorded by the investigator and the forensic scientist during the scene search have been determined. Photo or video recording of car wheel tracks is possible, as well as preparing the impression from the display of the tread on the soil.&#x0D; The possibilities of transport and traceological examination for studying the traces of car wheels have been established. The procedure for appointing an expert examination by an investigator is described. There is a list of materials that are provided for an expert study, as well as a list of questions that can be posed to an expert.&#x0D; It is argued that a problem in proving the involvement of a vehicle in the commission of a crime is the possibility of the vehicle tires or wheels to be replaced immediately after it has been committed. Recommendations regarding the identification of a vehicle based on tire marks on the soil are suggested. To establish the fact of changing tires on a car after the commission of a crime, the investigator must seize all sets of tires that are found in the suspect’s household or garage. It is possible to confirm the fact of changing tires on a particular car by interrogating employees of service stations located near the suspect’s residence. In addition to tire marks, to identify the vehicle, it is worth using the testimony of witnesses regarding the model and color of the car, traces of glass debris and paint chips at the accident site and damage on the car itself.

IDENTIFIKASI SAMPAH ANORGANIK PADA EKOSISTEM MANGROVE DI DESA LESAH KECAMATAN TAGULANDANG KABUPATEN SITARO

Based on the material content, waste is grouped into two types, namely organic waste (waste derived from animal, plant and human parts) and inorganic waste (waste derived from materials such as metal, glass, styrofoam, plastic and rubber). Inorganic waste is one of the coastal pollution problems, yet information about inorganic waste in mangrove ecosystem was relatively low, especially at Lesah Village, Tagulandang Sub district, Sitaro Regency. This study aims to determine the distribution of inorganic waste by type and to analyze the characteristic of inorganic waste based on the amount of size and weight found. The method used in this research is the line transects method at 3 different stations. The results showed that the types of marine debris that found were plastic, rubber, metal, and glass waste and there were 2 characteristics, namely mega-debris and macro-debris. Of the various types of debris obtained, plastic is the most commonly found, 161 items/23.329m2 (69.099 Items/ha) with a total weight of 1357.75 gram/ha and a total size of 1938.93 cm/ha. Followed by rubber debris as many as 5 items/23.329m2 (2.146 items/ha) with a total weight of 159.309 gram/ha and a total size of 59.871 cm/ha. Then, glass debris as many as 4 items/23.329m2 (1.717 items/ha) with a total weight of 402,159 grams/ha a total size of 31.030 cm/ha. Whereas, metal debris is the lowest value found as many as 3 item/23.329m2 (1.288 items/ha) with a total weight of 67.622 gram/ha and a total size of 19.528 cm/ha.Keywords: Inorganic waste, Mangrove Ecosystem, Desa Lesah

90 GHz, 3-D Scattered Field Measurements for Investigation of Foreign Object Debris

Scattering properties of millimeter waves (mmW) remain relatively unknown compared to lower frequency bands, although their study is of interest considering the increasing number of civil applications, especially in the $W$ -band. In this communication, we present an efficient measurement setup that provides scattering measurements with spatial and polarization diversities. The targeted application is foreign object debris (FOD) detection and identification for surveillance of airport runways. Most existing systems are monostatic but rapid advances in mmW technology pushes toward the deployment of multistatic radars on either side of airport runways. In the following, we investigate the contribution of multistatic measurements with a special focus on the reconstruction of glass and brake pad debris, courtesy of DGAC (French civil aviation). We also present an efficient approach for making images of FODs. For this, we process scattered field measurements with an additive (with respect to polarization) backpropagation algorithm. First images include all measured points taken from the upper hemisphere. In order to get closer to the final application, we restrict the field of view to receivers facing the transmitter. Both approaches provide very good shape reconstruction of the glass debris and the central zone of the brake pad. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that full-3-D measurements have been conducted on FODs in the $W$ -band. It is also the first example of a 3-D qualitative image of FOD obtained from measured data in the $W$ -band.

Static and dynamic Brazilian disk tests for mechanical characterization of annealed and chemically strengthened glass

The intent of this research is to determine the tensile strength and fracture behavior of annealed and chemically strengthened aluminosilicate glass under static and dynamic loading conditions using Brazilian disk (BD) tests. Owing to high brittleness and very small failure strain of glass, this test method is preferred to indirectly measure the tensile strength by compressive loading of cylindrical specimens diametrically instead of using direct tensile test. In this study, based on the BD principle, the static tensile strength is measured by using the universal testing machine and a modified SHPB with pulse shaper technique is used to measure the dynamic tensile strength of two types of glasses. The synchronous high-speed photography in both static and dynamic tests is used to capture the damage/crack initiation, crack pattern, and failure process of BD specimens. Also, the strain-time history was recorded from gauges directly embedded on BD specimens in both tests. The test results showed that two types of glasses under investigation are the loading rate-sensitive. In the case of annealed glass (AG), the average dynamic tensile strength was increased three times from the static strength and a substantial increase in tensile strength of chemically strengthened glass (CSG) was observed at high loading rate. The high-speed images and collected glass debris during BD tests are analyzed and discussed to explain the rate-sensitivity, fracture mode and tensile failure process of two types of glasses. The high-speed video suggested that the main central crack caused the splitting or failure in AG and in case of CSG the main central crack along with multiple cracks the splitting or failure occurred. Finally, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of collected glass residue of (AG) and (CSG) was also studied to illustrate the brittle fracture surface, crack pattern and deformation mechanism in two types of glasses.

Failure of Gadolinium Zirconate and Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Thermal Barrier Coatings Subjected to High Temperature Calcia-Magnesia-Alumino-Silicate Attack

Nowadays, the contribution of rare-earth oxide compounds is extensively investigated with the aim to improve the service life of gas turbine engine components protected by thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) against the environmental Calcia-Magnesia-Alumino-Silicate (CMAS) attack. Therefore, the TBCs consisting of a NiCrAlY bond coat, Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) and/or mixture of YSZ and Gadolinium Zirconate (YSZ+GZ) interlayers, and a GZ top coat, which were all deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying onto the nickel-based superalloy substrates, are introduced in this contribution. The CMAS-attack resistance was evaluated using an indirect method. Firstly, the thin layer of CMAS prepared from colloidal solutions was deposited onto the top coat surface and, after drying, the samples were heat treated with the aim to glassified the CMAS. Secondly, the coated samples containing CMAS glass debris were subjected to rapid heating (up to 1200 °C) and enforced cooling cycles at the burner-rig test device and the failure of TBC was investigated. In all cases, the failure mechanism due to the CMAS attack was the top coat spallation. The functional graded TBC was found to be the most resistant system.

Low-Cost Mechanically Alloyed Copper-Based Composite Reinforced with Silicate Glass Particles for Thermal Applications

A nanocrystalline copper-based composite reinforced with 40 vol.% silicate glass particles was successfully produced by mechanical alloying followed by hot pressing. The raw materials of crushed copper chips and soda-lime glass debris were processed in a planetary ball mill for up to 7 h. It was shown that silicate glass as alloying addition has a positive effect on the strengthening of copper and decreases its thermal expansion coefficient. During mechanical alloying, the microhardness of the composite powder particles increases to about 320 HV. The hot-pressed material demonstrates good thermal stability and increased compressive strength compared with consolidated milled copper.

Dynamic failure of annealed and chemically strengthened glass under compression loading

The goal of this article is to explore the dynamic mechanical behavior of annealed and chemically strengthened glass used in transparent laminated structures for buildings, armor and aerospace applications. Static compression (SC) tests were first conducted using the universal testing machine followed by dynamic compression (DC) tests at an average strain rate of 650 s−1 and 350 s−1 using modified Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) for annealed and strengthened glass, respectively. In DC tests, high-speed photography and flashlights were made synchronous with a loading pulse to spot the damage/crack initiation, propagation, and fracture process in both types of glasses. Static tests data concerning the compressive strength revealed that annealed glass (AG) showed strain rate sensitivity, in contrast to this chemically strengthened glass (CSG) showed no substantial strain-rate sensitivity. In DC tests compared to SC tests, it was found that both types of glass are rate sensitive and compressive strength remarkably increased at high strain-rate loading. The glass fracture process for both AG & CSG is also analyzed through high-speed imagery recorded during DC tests. The crack initiation, propagation, and glass debris are also discussed to explicate the failure mechanism of glass specimens.

Grains3D, a flexible DEM approach for particles of arbitrary convex shape—Part III: extension to non-convex particles modelled as glued convex particles

Large-scale numerical simulation using the discrete element method (DEM) contributes to improving our understanding of granular flow dynamics involved in many industrial processes and geophysical flows. In industry, it leads to an enhanced design and an overall optimization of the corresponding equipment and process. Most of the DEM simulations in the literature have been performed using spherical particles. A limited number of studies dealt with non-spherical particles, even less with non-convex particles. Even convex bodies do not always represent the real shape of certain particles. In fact, more complex-shaped particles are found in many industrial applications, for example, catalytic pellets in chemical reactors or crushed glass debris in recycling processes. In Grains3D-Part I (Wachs et al. in Powder Technol 224:374–389, 2012), we addressed the problem of convex shape in granular simulations, while in Grains3D-Part II (Rakotonirina and Wachs in Powder Technol 324:18–35, 2018), we suggested a simple though efficient parallel strategy to compute systems with up to a few hundreds of millions of particles. The aim of the present study is to extend even further the modelling capabilities of Grains3D towards non-convex shapes, as a tool to examine the flow dynamics of granular media made of non-convex particles. Our strategy is based on decomposing a non-convex-shaped particle into a set of convex bodies, called elementary components. We call our method glued or clumped convex method, as an extension of the popular glued sphere method. Essentially, a non-convex particle is constructed as a cluster of convex particles, called elementary components. At the level of these elementary components of a glued convex particle, we employ the same contact detection strategy based on a Gilbert–Johnson–Keerthi algorithm and a linked-cell spatial sorting that accelerates the resolution of the contact, that we introduced in [39]. Our glued convex model is implemented as a new module of our code Grains3D and is therefore automatically fully parallel. We illustrate the new modelling capabilities of Grains3D in two test cases: (1) the filling of a container and (2) the flow dynamics in a rotating drum.